Twenty years ago, India launched its “Look East” policy. For most of those 20 years, Myanmar’s isolation, mistrust between India and its neighbors, and poor infrastructure connectivity hindered the development of links between South and Southeast Asia. more...

In development, stabilization, and peace building, donors increasingly recognize the importance of being sensitive to the local contexts of their efforts. Yet the use of “blueprints” remains widespread. Even when standard approaches are modified for particular aid partners, there often remains a poor fit between donor efforts and local conditions.... more...

Human trafficking is a growing transnational criminal phenomenon_conservative estimates put the total number of persons trafficked annually at two million. In this first in-depth study of human trafficking in Russia and Ukraine, scholars from the European, Siberian, and far-eastern parts of Russia offer groundbreaking analyses of the motivations behind... more...

The first part of this book is primarily devoted to analysing the impact of the system of international relations on the fortunes of small states. The second part discusses the question 'what changes in the national strategy of small states are necessary in view of the new international system?' The authors of this volume come from various parts of... more...

In recent years the agenda of how to ‘deal with the past’ has become a central dimension of the quality of contemporary democracies. Many years after the process of authoritarian breakdown, consolidated democracies revisit the past either symbolically or to punish the elites associated with the previous authoritarian regimes. New factors, like international... more...

This text critically examines the belief that the EU not only has an impact on the international system but also a ‘normative’, ‘civilian’ and ‘civilizing’ power. The contributors question whether this assertion fits with the empirical record or is merely based on anecdotal evidence and whether there is a theoretical basis for the expectation of a... more...

The paradox of federalism is about whether self-rule accommodates or exacerbates ethnic divisions. A federal arrangement which formally recognizes ethno-linguistic diversity to help manage divisions can also pave the way for eventual disintegration. The case studies in this book cover a wide geographical basis (Canada, Scotland, Spain, Belgium, Bosnia,... more...

The Somali Federal Government (SFG), established in August 2012, has been widely welcomed as Somalia’s first “post-transition” government, receiving breathlessly upbeat media coverage and plaudits from the international community. But less than a year into the SFG’s mandate, hope and optimism are steadily giving way to polarization, acrimony, and... more...